I wasn't worried about it at all, my buddy and I were out flying a hull and I didn't unsheet soon enough when a gust came along and we.. just.. went.. over.

I've flipped a friend's boat several times a few weeks ago (deliberately) and it righted quite easily, but even with two people on my righting line, I couldn't even get my boat to *start* coming up again. Soon I was the focus of attention for every boat and jet-ski on the lake. Finally a helpful guy in a speedboat reached down and picked up the end of the mast and once he was holding it over his head the boat righted. Guess I'll lower the mast one of these days and check for possible sources of leaks to fill with silicone... Other thoughts? Comments / suggestions very welcome.

Update: Today I dropped the mast and there was quite a bit of water inside. Of course I was in my wet/dry slip at the time (ref: my thread here: http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=1037 ) so I couldn't really do much work on it aside from put silicone around all the rivets. My lower mast plug must be good because no water was coming out a little hole there (now plugged with silicone) but it did flow slowly out the top of the mast once it was dropped. HOLY COW a mast with water in it is heavy and difficult to lower and raise!

Next weekend I plan to pull the boat out of the water, drop the mast, drill out the rivets on the top of the mast, remove it, maybe put in a new upper mast plug, and then re-seal the whole thing. Hopefully that'll solve the issue. Any suggestions y'all might have are very welcome! I really don't want a mast bob because I think they look silly. 'Course not as silly as a turtle, but still...

Sealing the mast is the way to go. You already outlined the way to do it. Keep in mind that the pop riveter you might have in the garage even though it pops aluminum rivets quiet well might give you a hard time popping the relative big stainless steel rivets. You might need something better - or really strong hands!!! You might also want to check the area around the stainless steel plate where the shrouds attach. Not sure if those are prone to leaks - I just know that even with a sealed mast this area might be submerged before you start righting the boat. You will not need no stinken Bob. With a sealed mast the hobie 16 should not turtle. On good days (> 10 - 15 mph wind) you will be able to righten the cat with just one person. For days with mild wind there are a couple of tools that will help you to righten the cat single handed (Soloright is one of the better ideas in this context)

I don't see a reason to use stainless rivets on the mast head. It doesn't carry much of a load. I used some stainless rivets on the boom at the gooseneck and on the mast base, but I don't see where the head takes enough shear load to require stainless rivets. Anyway... I put silicone around the shroud connector plate yesterday just to be on the safe side. I'll fill you guys in with the details when I seal the head.

Edit: Okay I've just gotten back from Lowe's and Wal-Mart and got some styrofoam to use for the plug (in addition to a bunch of silicone.) Anyone have other suggestions to do while the top of the mast is off?

OK update - so I pulled the top of the mast off and there was a bunch of old silicone in there. I was like "wtf how is this leaking?" but when I poked at it water came out. So I pulled it out and the foam behind it was saturated. So I pulled the FOAM out and there was a piece of black plastic there:

This appeared to be riveted in as well but I dunno what it was for so I just left it as-is. Water dripped out of the mast for about 15 minutes. When it stopped I dried it out with some paper towels and cleaned with some acetone.

When that was all dry I put a thick layer of silicone over the black plastic thing, then I inserted some sliced "foam pool noodle" pieces to fit tightly inside the mast, and put another thick layer of silicone over the foam. The result was this:

Then I put some silicone on the mast head and re-riveted it in place.

Tomorrow (after curing overnight) I'll carry it down to the water to make sure there are no bubbles. If all goes well I'll set the boat up and tip it a couple of times just to be sure.

Carried the mast over to the water and submerged it... no bubbles! I'm very happy to report a non-leaking mast. Except for a tiny bit around the mast base but (a) in a capsize that'll be out of the water anyway, (b) any water that gets in it will easily drain out again, and (c) it's moment-arm is very close to the hull anyway since the lower mast plug is in good shape.

Just when I was going to put the boat back in the water and practice flipping it, a storm came along! The wind went from ~5 to ~15mph and I really wanted to go out there... except for the lightning. Fortunately the storm passed after about 25 minutes.

I attempted to recruit somebody to go out on the boat with me, but I was unsuccessful, so I went out alone. Have I mentioned what a PITA it is to raise the sails *after* launching? Wish there was a beach here. 8p

**once out on the lake it occurred to me that I should've had one of the marina folks take some pictures of me with my camera, but by then it was too late.**

After 25 minutes on the water I had the sails up and proceeded to reach back and forth across the lake, flying a hull 85% of the time. I'm getting better at that!

Occasionally I'd get it up to 45-60° and then chicken out of the intentional capsize... but finally I went for it. Swam around and stood on the bow but for some reason the boat didn't pivot into the wind. Suggestions?Finally I swam it around and then hung out on the righting line. I could get the mast all the way out of the water, but I guess I just barely don't weigh enough to right the boat alone... hafta buy a righting bag I suppose.

A speedboat came along and a fella jumped off to help me right it... except that at first he climbed on the hull *at the transom* and the boat started to flip over backwards, so I told him to get off and "come stand up here by me." LOL Boy with his weight on the line the boat came up really fast! I was going to tell him about grabbing the dolphin striker but the boat came up so fast I didn't get a chance. He yelped and dove away when he saw the hull coming down at him. LOLOL His friends in their boat laughed at him. Anwyay, I climbed back on and sailed around a bit more before heading in.

I dropped the main while still on the lake and sailed into the marina on the jib; hauled the boat up on its boards and after *very loosely* rolling the sails covered everything up with the tarp and left for the afternoon.

FUN FUN FUN!!!

In other news, I still drained water out of the hulls even after putting fresh silicone around the pilons. What else can I do?